Bahama Breeze blows into Sanford, site plan revealed

The name on the street sign says Rinehart Road, but city leaders may want to change that to Restaurant Row.

Bahama Breeze appears to be the next national chain restaurant to locate on the north end of Rinehart Road, joining LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddars Scratch Kitchen, Buffalo Wild Wings, Carrabba’s, Red Robin, PDQ and Mellow Mushroom.

Site plans were submitted to the city of Sanford by MJW, the development firm that has built many of the restaurants around the Elan Towne Center apartments as part of the Southgate development. The location of the Bahama Breeze, which is part of Darden Concepts, Inc., would be at the southwest corner of Rinehart Road and Garnet Lane. It would be across the street from Best Buy.

I don’t have a timeline when construction will start or when the restaurant might open. Staff comments about the project are not due until Nov. 29. I would not expect construction to begin before March 2017.

A spokesman for Bahama Breeze, Hunter Robinson, said the company is “constantly looking for sites across the country. However, we do not comment on any specific plans until a project has received the necessary approvals.”

According to Bahama Breeze’s development criteria, the building is expected to be about 8,000 square feet with an additional 2,700-square-foot outdoor area.

A rendering of the the what the proposed Bahama breeze would look like. This is a the front, which will face north toward Garnet Lane.Site plan for Bahama Breeze.